Maybe some of you have seen the Griddle Hack device for pellet grilles. I've got a few griddles to choose from, but the lure of one for the RT was just too strong. What I liked about this one was the funnel down to the firebox so that the heat is concentrated to the bottom of the griddle rather that relying on hot, convection air. And given that it's got a box like structure with the "funnel" welded around the edges, and a V brace welded down the center it shouldn't have the same distortion issues the cheaper single layer/sheet units, like RT offers, have when heated. It require the grates, drip pan, and diffuser be removed for it to fit properly. In the picture I don't have the leveling adjusters installed, nor the grease trough extension as I was only doing a burn in to clean off any contaminants and doing a temp check with the IR to see what it does rather than what it's claimed to do. It's fair size at 17.25 wide and 16.25 deep (not counting the grease trough), won't feed an army, but a small family or couple should be happy with it. The design configuration requires it be centered, so there's space on either side. In the Stampede/590 it's a bit over 6 inches each side left open, which, as luck would have it, leaves room for a couple grill grates for added surface area, say as a keep warm area or for toasting buns or such.
Following the manufacturer instructions to start I set the target temp at 350. As a bonus I started getting progress messages on my phone that I hadn't seen before. I must be set up for push updates as my iPhone has version 1.6.2 loaded which I didn't initiate. Interesting. Within 15 minutes, with the lid closed, the grill was at set temp and the griddle, read with the IR, was at about 410 in the very center (fist size area) and then about 370-375 in each of the four corner areas. Plenty hot for typical grilling of sausages, eggs, potatoes and the like. If you leave the lid open it stays in that range for awhile, though the PID probably gets a little confused. After about 5 minutes open it started to climb and at 15 minutes with the lid open the center spot was over 500 and the corner areas in the mid and a bit higher 450ish range. Good for searing, but probably tough for the foods above from a control standpoint, and would likely ruin pancakes. The caveat here is I only did the one round of experimenting as I'm also doing a cook on another grill at the same time and didn't want to get too carried away with the griddle testing. At this point it looks like open lid/close lid to help the fuel feed keep the temps in a relatively steady range...………..but, more playing may change my observation.
This unit is the same one they recommend for the Bull/700 so probably would operate similarly, though I can imagine the added interior volume might make a slight change in reaction times. Since the Bull is only 6 inches wider, and the griddle would be centered, there won't be enough additional space for any more grill grates as fillers if you choose to do that.
Once I start cooking on it there will likely be some follow up commentary. It'll be interesting to see what happens. I'm thinking this might be an interesting component of a further hack for pizza cooking. They make a metal tent like add on piece to convert this to a pizza cooker, but one, it's kinda pricey on top of this being kinda pricey at $150, and two, a thin metal "ceiling" isn't going to do much for putting high heat to the top of a pizza. It probably would be okay for the reheat kinda pizza like a DiGiorno or a Papa Murphy, those are made for convection cooking unlike "real" pizza dough and toppings. I'm envisioning making a box from fire brick for the sides and two pizza stones, one on the griddle surface and one as a ceiling. Given that it easily got to mid 500s, with some heat soak time I might be able to get around 600ish in the make shift oven. Again, It will be fun to play with when I make time to do those things.
Following the manufacturer instructions to start I set the target temp at 350. As a bonus I started getting progress messages on my phone that I hadn't seen before. I must be set up for push updates as my iPhone has version 1.6.2 loaded which I didn't initiate. Interesting. Within 15 minutes, with the lid closed, the grill was at set temp and the griddle, read with the IR, was at about 410 in the very center (fist size area) and then about 370-375 in each of the four corner areas. Plenty hot for typical grilling of sausages, eggs, potatoes and the like. If you leave the lid open it stays in that range for awhile, though the PID probably gets a little confused. After about 5 minutes open it started to climb and at 15 minutes with the lid open the center spot was over 500 and the corner areas in the mid and a bit higher 450ish range. Good for searing, but probably tough for the foods above from a control standpoint, and would likely ruin pancakes. The caveat here is I only did the one round of experimenting as I'm also doing a cook on another grill at the same time and didn't want to get too carried away with the griddle testing. At this point it looks like open lid/close lid to help the fuel feed keep the temps in a relatively steady range...………..but, more playing may change my observation.
This unit is the same one they recommend for the Bull/700 so probably would operate similarly, though I can imagine the added interior volume might make a slight change in reaction times. Since the Bull is only 6 inches wider, and the griddle would be centered, there won't be enough additional space for any more grill grates as fillers if you choose to do that.
Once I start cooking on it there will likely be some follow up commentary. It'll be interesting to see what happens. I'm thinking this might be an interesting component of a further hack for pizza cooking. They make a metal tent like add on piece to convert this to a pizza cooker, but one, it's kinda pricey on top of this being kinda pricey at $150, and two, a thin metal "ceiling" isn't going to do much for putting high heat to the top of a pizza. It probably would be okay for the reheat kinda pizza like a DiGiorno or a Papa Murphy, those are made for convection cooking unlike "real" pizza dough and toppings. I'm envisioning making a box from fire brick for the sides and two pizza stones, one on the griddle surface and one as a ceiling. Given that it easily got to mid 500s, with some heat soak time I might be able to get around 600ish in the make shift oven. Again, It will be fun to play with when I make time to do those things.
